Walmart closed about 10 locations last year in the U.S.

    So far in 2024, it has closed 8 stores. These have occurred in California, Milwaukee, and Wisconsin. Five were in California.

    I am going to miss the Eastland Center store in West Covina that closed earlier this year. It was near my auto mechanic. I seldom visited it but it was a unique Walmart.

    It had two levels and an escalator for people, and a separate escalator for shopping carts. You could ride alongside your shopping cart traveling between floors. You moved at the lightning speed of one of those elderly stair lift seats, but like Angels Flight, it was about the adventure.

    The shocking news (and it has been around for most of this year) is that the Barstow Walmart is being considered by Corporate for possible closure by the end of 2024.

    After forcing some small mom-and-pop stores in Barstow to close, Walmart itself might be pulling in its welcome mat.

    The problem is the Barstow store has been operating as a non-profit. It isn't making money. And, it is estimated that $2-million a year is lost due to theft.

    I spoke with a Walmart middle management employee last month and the store is definitely being considered for the chopping block. The decision could go either way.

    Hopefully, the bimbos in the city's government will be doing some lobbying.

    I was informed a decade ago, that Walmart had wanted to build their store further south along the I-15 but certain forces within the city's government held real estate interests where Walmart was eventually built.

    Perhaps Barstow's Walmart would have been more profitable where Walmart's data originally directed them.